by Curtis Niedermier
FLW Press Release
FLORENCE, Ala. - There was no 30-pound mega-limit weighed in today in Florence, Ala., but tournament leader Greg Hackney still hauled in a 22-pound, 4-ounce stringer from Pickwick Lake on a day that nine of the top 10 pros described as a grind.
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| Greg has a magic spot that is kicking out big bass. Today the place didn't produce as well as the first two days. (Photo: FLW) |
Interestingly, the one piece of the puzzle that most anglers have been looking for this week is current, and today the Tennessee River was ripping in the wake of two afternoon thunderstorms that drenched the Tennessee Valley at the end of the workweek. Coupled with a water-level rise, the current turned out to be too much of a good thing, and Hackney’s magic 30-pound spot didn’t fire today like it did yesterday.
“There was a lot of current,” Hackney says. “You’d think that would have helped. Maybe I caught too many [yesterday]. It was OK today, but it took me all day to catch them.”
The Gonzales, La., pro revealed a few more details about his best spot today. It’s a 1 1/2-foot break topped with a “live” mussel shell bed. He knows it’s a live one because he’ll occasionally catch snails, and when he does, he knows he’s on the juice.
Mussel beds are nothing new to ledge fisherman on the Tennessee River, but this one has an extra ingredient that sweetens the deal for Pickwick’s biggest largemouths: giant gizzard shad. As in, gizzard shad so big that Hackney hasn’t even found a bait big enough to “match the hatch.” The 5-pound-plus “hammers” are choking down the jumbo baitfish whenever they slide up onto the structure. When it goes down, Hackney fires in with one of two unidentified lures, and the action is extremely fast.
